Kissing with tongues can spread the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea, as opposed to oral s-x according to recent research.
Gonorrhoea is an infection caused by bacteria which can live in the genitals, anus, mouth or eye and also cause illness elsewhere in the body.
Scientists say the STI can be caught through saliva.
Until now experts thought the clap was only spread through unprotected sex
And spreading the infection this way may be more common than expected, the Australian researchers claimed.
They found gay men were more likely to have gonorrhoea in their throat than their p-nis – and the risk of spreading it was greater for kissing than for oral s-x.
The research into oropharyngeal gonorrhoea comes amid growing concerns about ‘super’ strains of the STI that are becoming resistant to the medicine.
Scientists at Monash University and the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre in Australia surveyed around 3,000 gay and bisexual men in the city.
‘A number of pieces of evidence suggest transmission from the oropharynx [back of the throat] may be more common than previously thought,’ Professor Eric Chow and his colleagues wrote in the paper.
‘[The bacteria] can be cultured from saliva, suggesting that the exchange of saliva between individuals may potentially transmit gonorrhoea.
‘Several case reports in the 1970s suggested kissing as a mode of transmission for oropharyngeal gonorrhoea… but kissing has always been neglected as a risk factor’.
Professor Chow said a rise in global reports of gonorrhoea strains which are evolving to stop antibiotics working against them is cause for concern.
The scientists added that using spit as a lubricant during sex or oral contact with the anus could also spread the infection from the throat to the anus or genitals.
Doctors and scientists must find new ways of stopping the infection, he warned, and efforts are currently focused on encouraging condom use during s-x.